CRM and integrations
Choosing a small business CRM: start with your actual follow-up process
Before comparing software, describe your actual follow-up. Here is a six-criteria grid to choose a CRM without buying more than you need.
One enquiry arrives through the website, another by email, a third by phone. Someone jots it all down in a spreadsheet, and someone else half-remembers the rest. At that point the question "which CRM should we pick?" almost always comes up, and it is tempting to compare software before looking at how follow-up really happens.
We suggest reversing the order: describe your follow-up as it exists today, then assess tools against a grid of six criteria. This article presents the grid, one way to use it and the questions to ask before committing. It does not rank any software or recommend any vendor, because the right choice depends on how you work.
Describe your actual follow-up before looking at tools
Take a recent enquiry and follow it from first contact to the client's decision. Write down each step: who receives it, where the information is recorded, who follows up, when and by what rule, and how you know it is won or lost. One page is enough.
This exercise brings out three things you will need:
- The information that really matters: contact details, where the enquiry came from, the stated need, the next action, the follow-up date. If you cannot name them, a tool will not do it for you.
- The stages of your process: "new enquiry," "to call back," "quote sent," "closed." Four to six stages are usually enough for a small business.
- The places where things get lost: a call never returned, a missed follow-up, a duplicate. These points, not a software feature list, should guide the choice.
If your current follow-up fits in a well-kept spreadsheet and nobody loses enquiries, it is reasonable to conclude a CRM is not the priority. That is a result too.
Six criteria to compare CRMs
Here is the grid we propose. It lets you ask the same questions of every option, including the tool you already use.
Six criteria to compare CRMs
| Criterion | Question to ask | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Actual follow-up | Can the tool represent your stages and follow-up rules? | Customizable stages, tasks and reminders, history per contact |
| Minimal data entry | How many fields must be filled in to log an enquiry? | Trial with a real enquiry; required fields; adding from an email or a form |
| Access | Who sees and edits what? | Roles and permissions, number of users, access for a service provider, removing access |
| Integrations | Does information flow in from your forms, email and calendar without re-entry? | Existing connections, API limits, error handling |
| Total cost | What does the whole package cost over time? | Per-user subscription, tiers, paid add-ons, setup, training, data entry time |
| Data export | Can you get your data back, and in what form? | Export formats, scope of the export, limits, delays |
No single row is a deal-breaker on its own. Weigh them according to your situation: a two-person team will care more about minimal data entry than fine-grained permissions, while a team working with an outside provider will look closely at access.
Minimal data entry: the criterion people underestimate
A CRM is only useful if it is up to date. Information only goes in if entry is simple enough to do on the spot, between two calls. Too many required fields, slow screens or steps nobody understands, and the team goes back to the spreadsheet.
A simple test: pick three recent enquiries and log them in the tool you are assessing, stopwatch in hand. Ask the person who will do the daily data entry to do it, not the person who picked the tool. Note what slowed them down or made them hesitate.
Entry can also be reduced through connections: an enquiry received through a form can create a record automatically, for example. That requires deciding what happens with a duplicate or an empty field, a topic we cover in our article on what to automate first. And if you want to know which enquiries truly come from your website, measuring a received enquiry is different from counting a click, as our article on GA4 and Google Tag Manager explains.
Total cost: beyond the listed price
The subscription price is only part of the cost. To compare fairly, add up a period of three years, for example:
- the subscription, taking into account the number of users and feature tiers;
- the add-ons you will need that are not included;
- initial setup and importing your existing data;
- training and the time it takes the team to get comfortable;
- connections with other tools, which may require additional subscriptions;
- daily data entry time, which is a real cost even if it appears on no invoice.
Also check the billing currency and taxes: a price listed in US dollars is not equivalent to a price in Canadian dollars. We deliberately give no amounts: prices change, and a general figure would be misleading.
Data export: think about the end before the start
A CRM holds information about your clients and prospects, often years of history. Knowing how to get it back out is a selection criterion, not a technical detail.
As a documentary example, and without recommending it, HubSpot's help page on exporting records (updated April 2, 2026) states that contacts, companies and deals can be exported as CSV, XLSX and XLS files, that export permission is required, and that exports have limits: a cap on exports per 24-hour period, a column limit depending on the format, and download links that expire after 30 days. This kind of detail can be checked in any tool's documentation before you buy.
On the obligations side, Quebec's Commission d'accès à l'information states that, since September 22, 2024, a person may ask that their computerized personal information collected from them be communicated to them in a structured and commonly used technological format (the Commission's page is in French). In practice, a business that keeps its clients in a CRM benefits from knowing how to extract one person's data. This is not legal advice: to find out what applies to your business, contact the Commission or a legal adviser.
So ask each vendor three questions: what data can be exported, in what format, and how often? Ideally, run a trial export during the evaluation period.
Frequently asked questions
Do we need to change CRMs?
Not necessarily. Start with the tool you already use, even if it is a spreadsheet or a feature of your email inbox, and run it through the grid. If the problem is how information moves between your tools, a connection is sometimes more useful than new software.
How many users should we plan for?
Count everyone who will need to view or log enquiries, even occasionally. Price and permissions often vary with that number; also check what happens when someone leaves the team.
Is a free CRM enough?
It depends on your stages, the number of users and your connection needs. Run the free option through the same grid and read its limits, especially for export.
Next step
Describe your follow-up on one page, fill in the grid with your current tools, then with one or two options. If you would like help framing this need, AETHER can review your follow-up with you and clarify what to configure or connect, without assuming a change of tool is needed. See our CRM and integrations page, or, if your need is mostly about repetitive tasks, our Automation and AI page.